TRAGEDY AT LITTLE BAY: FAMILY BEGS FOR MIRACLE AS MISSING SCHOOLBOY — GRANDSON OF SUPREME COURT JUDGE — VANISHES AFTER SCHOOLIES NIGHT; POLICE CONFIRM DISCOVERY THAT COULD REVEAL HIS FINAL MOMENTS

Human remains have been discovered after private schoolboy Astin Gerstl was swept out to sea at an unpatrolled beach during Schoolies week.

The search for Astin Gerstl, 18, was suspended on Tuesday, two days after he became caught in a rip at Little Bay Beach on the NSW Mid North Coast on Sunday.

On Friday, NSW Police confirmed that human remains had been located by a member of the public at the same beach at around 7.30am.

‘The remains have been taken for forensic examination,’ the statement said.

Astin had just finished his HSC at The King’s School in Parramatta in Sydney‘s west and was on a Schoolies trip with friends when tragedy struck.

It’s understood that he was a boarder at the school and is the grandson of former Supreme Court Justice Roddy Meagher, who died in 2011.

Marine Rescue NSW vessels searched waters from Laggers Point to Gap Beach for almost eight hours on Monday.

The search for Astin Gerstl, 18, was suspended on Tuesday, two days after he became caught in a rip at Little Bay Beach on the NSW Mid North Coast on Sunday

Marine Rescue NSW crews and vessels were on the water in search of the missing teen

Deteriorating offshore conditions forced authorities to suspend the search on Tuesday.

Little Bay Beach is a popular picnic spot but is not patrolled or recommended for swimming, according to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

It’s the third tragedy on the NSW Mid North Coast in the last week.

Swiss tourist Livia Mühlheim, 25, was killed in a shark attack at Kylie’s Beach last Thursday. Her partner Lukas Schindler was also injured in the attack but survived.

A man, 59, drowned near Crescent Head last Friday.